


Awww Puppies!

by doppeldonger



Series: Serenity [2]
Category: Borderlands (Video Games), borderlands 2 - Fandom, borderlands: the pre-sequel
Genre: Athena is Tim's over protective mom, Brick and Tim are giant saps, Did I mention puppies?, Emotional Rollercoaster, Fluff and Angst, Gay dads Mordy and Brick really, Gen, Mentions of Handsome Jack, Other, So much love for baby animals in general, Team mom Maya, Tim is a cryptid, mentions of past trauma, so many puppies - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-16
Updated: 2017-07-16
Packaged: 2018-12-02 21:03:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,583
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11517429
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/doppeldonger/pseuds/doppeldonger
Summary: Timothy gets caught and brought to Sanctuary and everyone seems to hate him. Thankfully, it's nothing a box full of chubby little puppies can't fix.





	Awww Puppies!

**Author's Note:**

> For lilbittymonster and thefangirlingglass on tumblr.

A giant bulk of metal and cement gracefully soars through the evening sky, disappearing behind big fluffy clouds only to appear again a moment later to bask in the rays of the setting sun. Three people stand on the edge of the glorious flying city, their features accentuated by the soft colors of cantaloupe and taffy as they watch the dull scenery pass by.

The woman stands tall and proud despite being the smallest in build compared to the other two, she carries her curved and muscly form with the confidence of an amazon, lips slightly downturned and hands resting on her hips as a gentle breeze caresses her ruby colored locks. “There’s been another report of a Jack sighting.” she spits, looking at her companions from under furrowed brows.

“A- **gain**?” the bulkier one groans in an _I’m-too-old-for-this-shit_ manner and crosses his arms over his broad chest. “It’s… what now, the fifth one this week?”

“Believe me, Brick, I’m no more excited about this than you are.”

“Then why are you sending us off for this one?” the slim man cuts in, his suspicious eyes hidden behind large goggles. Lilith turns to regard Mordecai thoughtfully, “This one’s been rather… interesting.” Her expression borders on sour.

“Oh yeah? What does this one have? Another scam conducted by con artists?” Brick doesn’t sound impressed. Lilith slowly rubs the crease between her curved brows and thinks how to get over with the awkwardness of the intel she has, “This guy was reported to have been hacking off the limbs of statues in Eridium Blight… quite fervently.”

“Everyone hates Jack and tries to find a way to take their anger out on him, Lil’.” Mordecai sounds downright bored as he absentmindedly plucks off a feather of Talon perched atop his shoulder, helping the bloodwing shed his baby fur.  

“I received some photos of it and albeit blurry, the person **does** look like Jack.” Lilith reaches out to Talon only to get her fingers bitten, she pulls back with a gentle smile as the bird starts preening like nothing happened. “It might be a hoax, but people there are turning it into some kind of urban legend and the last thing we need is another cult named after that bastard.”

“So, we’re dealing with some cryptid, then?” Brick’s deep laugh is boisterous, echoing off the walls around Sanctuary.

“Let’s just hope it’ll be a fun fight.” Mordecai chimes in as he stretches. Talon squawks, clearly annoyed by the disturbance as he sets off to fly around the city. “It’s beginning to get boring here with no one to shoot.”

“Come help me shoot Athena in the leg, then maybe we can both have fun.” Lilith comments without humor. She sighs. “Just… deal with this, okay? Catch him before he leaves, bring in whoever this asshole is or kill him if it’s necessary.”

“They can’t be that bad if they’re trying to get rid of the Handsome Jack statues.” Brick grins as they slowly make their way to the Fast Travel Station.

* * *

The air hangs hot and humid above the sharp hills of Eridium Blight, the gray-lime colored sunset stretching out over the scenery lazily. The sound of the wildlife going on with their business is occasionally disrupted by a stuttering hacking noise that could only originate from the sharp end of an angry axe hitting on marble. The air around the Fast Travel Station nearby vibrates, indicating an incoming teleport; but the man doesn’t take notice as he continues to work vigorously on the Handsome Jack statue with a wild sneer on his face, he lets out an angry curse every time his axe sinks deeper into the cold, hard material.

“Havin’ fun there?”

The voice booms too close for his liking, followed by a shrill cry of… a rakk? Timothy isn’t sure, but he sure did drop his axe on his toes in a moment of surprise and now he’s both angry and in pain. With a petulant grunt he turns around and-

Time seems to freeze for the two men standing in front of him as they gape at him with wide eyes; the thinner one’s hands fly over to the giant blade strapped to his back as the big one raises his huge fists up with a shrill battle cry and downright charges at him.

 _Right_. He should have gotten used to the shenanigans of random stragglers by now. “Heyheyheyhey dude stop!” He raises his hands up, palms facing the two men, and he scuttles backwards; it’s disappointing to see how people still seem to recognize him despite his best efforts to change his appearance. He guesses Jack’s ugly mug is… well, too ugly to just pass by without making people notice. “It’s not what you thi-oomph!” Tripping over what turns out to be (ironically) the statue’s face, he falls down ungracefully. Handsome Jack’s hawkish nose digging into his side, Timothy barely bites back a pained cry and that seems to slow the huge man down as he skids to a halt in front of him. Brick slowly lowers his fists to glare at the man cowering before him, hands still raised in a manner to show he means no harm. _That looks nothing like Jack_ , he thinks stupidly and turns to regard Mordecai with confusion. Looking as lost as he is, the hunter simply shrugs and twirls his blade in his hands. Brick turns back to the impassive man, noticing how he tries to hide a wince, “Okay, whoever you are… You’re coming with us.” Timothy knows better than questioning someone who could snap him in half with his bare hands, so he complies.

* * *

The seasoned Vault Hunters return to the protection of the flying city with their plus one and Timothy knows something’s wrong the moment he sets foot on the street. A brief scan of his surroundings gives him the information he needs and he ends up hugging the Fast Travel close like a lifeline with an undignified squeak, “Hhhhohhhmygooooood are we actually on a flying city? How high are we?” He pauses to swallow past the lump in his throat before a horrifying thought occurs to him. “Oh my god, please don’t throw me off the side!” His terrified gaze switches between Brick and Mordecai, who look too stunned to actually respond. _That looks nothing like Jack_.

Thankfully, though, the Crimson Lance scattered around the city is quick to react, so Timothy ends up with about thirty guns pointed at his face. He’s not sure if he should be offended or honored, so he clears his throat and slowly parts way with the Fast Travel so that he can raise his hands up once again. An unnatural kind of silence engulfs them as all parties remain stock still, not daring to take a breath. Sanctuary calmly makes its way among the clouds, almost orbiting Pandora as it moves to hang in the air just over the Highlands. Timothy shivers slightly, the cool air a clear contrast to the lava-induced heat of his usual reside. Everyone looks- **glares** at him as if they expect him to do something rash, but this isn’t the first time he’s been in a situation like this so he keeps his mouth shut and waits patiently.

Then there’s a gasp, barely heard over the blood rushing in people’s ears and a blue haired woman emerges from one of the buildings, surprise etched into her soft features. Timothy’s eyes steal a brief glance to the tattoos gracing the left side of her body before focusing on her face again, he wonders how fucked up things will get for him considering a Siren’s attention is on him as he observes her almond-shaped eyes and high cheeks. She advances closer, invading his personal space like a cold splash of water, “So it **is** true.” she whispers as he holds her gaze. Timothy gives her a tiny smile, “Hi.” Whatever Maya was about to say gets lost in confusion after hearing the simple word and she ends up glaring harder into the man’s eyes; he doesn’t quiver under her gaze, so he gives himself a mental pat on the back.

“You’re…” the Siren mutters. She pauses, opens her mouth, then stops again. “Something’s wrong.” she tells, rather to herself than anyone else around them. She squints and hums thoughtfully before raising her delicate, tattooed hand and placing it on his bearded cheek. He swallows and takes a trembling breath, hoping she won’t just pulverize him right there and then. Her touch is cool over his burning face and he feels like his heart is weighed under the Siren’s keen judgement. Everyone waits to hear her declaration or her decision with baited breath, and after a few agonizing moments Maya pulls back with a “Huh.” She turns to look at the others who still have their guns trained on the worried man and calmly opens her arms wide, “It’s not him.” Honestly, Timothy has no idea what’s going on, but if people believe the Siren enough to leave him be (albeit with glares and grumbles directed at him), he’s not gonna complain. The soldiers lower their guns but remain as Maya turns to look at the man, “Are you one of his doppelgängers?” she asks curiously, “I thought we got rid of all of them in Opportunity.”

Timothy carefully lowers his hands, “Was.” he amends, “I was the original, the only one who actually had to go under the knife instead of using some cloaking device.” She cringes. He gives her an apologetic smile. “Shit.” she curses under her breath. “I know, right?” he responds, his smile turning painful. He expects her to ask him why, but the question never comes, instead she motions for him to follow her with a welcoming hand. He trails behind her without a word as they weave their way around the flying city into a huge building with an open door like a hungry, gaping mouth. “This is the HQ.” Maya explains, “Lilith’s up there with Athena, we’ll go and see them.”

“Athena?” His voice is but a whisper.

Maya turns to look at him with an interested little smile, “You know her?” Timothy nods wordlessly, too lost in the gush of feelings captivating his hammering heart. “She’s one hell of a woman, if you ask me.” The Siren is grinning now, her steely eyes sparkling with some sort of wicked joy, “I never saw anyone who could make Lilith so mad.”

Timothy can’t help the bark of laughter leaving his parched lips, “I disagree. Have you ever seen her with Jack?” And there it is, the taboo, the word people avoid to voice. Maya pauses to regard Timothy with a surprised look on her face as the silence settles between them. Then, quick as it came, the moment of tension disperses when Maya lets out a hearty laugh, her voice like bells chiming in a warm summer evening, “You’re right!” Timothy can feel a matching grin stretching his lips at the corners.

The inside of the building is warmer, the gentle hum of washing machines and ECHOdevices filling the silence of the small living space. As they make their way to the stairs, a gentle whine makes Timothy stop in his tracks, causing Brick to come to a halt behind him, Mordecai ramming into the larger man with a curse on his lips; but the ex-doppelgänger is too distracted by the source of the whine that he doesn’t notice, he kneels down in front of a box that’s definitely seen better days and smiles a dumb smile, “Awwwww puppies!” Maya looks at the man with a raised brow, _That looks nothing like Jack._ Not noticing the surprised glances thrown in his way, Timothy croons, plunging an excited hand into the box to play with and pet the small puppies residing in there. “Hiiiiiiiii! Oh my gosh, you’re all so cute.”

“I know, right?” the huge man’s voice booms from behind him for the second time this evening, “Found ‘em in the Dust, they were left out there to become Skag food.”

Timothy looks up with a puppy already snug between his hands and gives his counterpart a beaming smile, “You’re a godsend, they look so healthy and beautiful.” The other man grins back as he walks closer to nudge the puppy Timothy’s holding with a gentle finger, “Thanks.” he says awkwardly. “I’m Brick, by the way.”

The lankier man looks up, “I’m-“ he stops himself before he can speak further thanks to the fear Jack instilled in him about his real name. In that brief moment of hesitation he remembers it’s meaningless at this point- these people killed him, he’s gone and Timothy’s free. “I’m Timothy.” he replies with renewed vigor.

“Nice to meet you, Timothy!” Maya calls exuberantly from the stairs, which earns her a hearty grin.

-

“I’M TELLING YOU, YOU CAN’T JUST ATTACK THEM OUT IN THE OPEN LIKE THAT!”

“YOU’RE IN NO PLACE TO SUGGEST A STRATEGY TO ME!”

When Maya leads the party upstairs, there’s a heated argument reverberating off the walls and down the stairs with two women ready to go at each other’s throats at any moment now. As Timothy and Brick arrive to stand behind her with about ten puppies filling their arms, Athena and Lilith notice the movement around them and stop screaming bloody murder at each other for a brief moment to glare at the newcomers.

“Oh hi, Tim.” Athena greets before turning to Lilith, “YOU’RE GOING TO GET EVERYONE KILLED, IS THAT WHAT YOU WANT?!”

“Uh, hi.” Tim says awkwardly, his voice cracks ever so slightly, making the voice modulator send a mild wave of pain up his larynx.

“DON’T JUDGE ME- AND WHO THE HELL IS TIM?!” Lilith yells back, turning her furious glare to the trio at the door. Suddenly the silence is too much to bear. “It’s **you**.” Lilith sneers and at that particular moment, Timothy actually fears for his life for the first time in a long time. He notices how much she changed since he last saw her in the Vault, how sad and angry she looks, how there are deep tired lines between her brows and at the corners of her mouth, how her eyes lost their arrogant glint, how she carries her form so stiffly.

He doesn’t notice the punch she throws at his face.

Come to think of it, it’s quite funny, really. It reminds Timothy of **The Punch** that eventually helped bring the persona of Handsome Jack into being. As he lets his head lull back and his body fall, he distantly thinks it probably hurt like a bitch; despite his broken nose and the waves of pain blooming across his face, he smiles at the thought. _Good riddance_.

As Athena dashes to his side, he ignores the pain to check the puppies in his arms, “Oh, good. You’re all ‘ere ‘nd well.” he hears himself say. The gladiator yanks his face to the side to assess the damage and honestly? She looks like she’s ready to slap a bitch. “Oh I’m gonna kill you.” she growls to Timothy’s face, addressing Lilith. Timothy opens his arms and lets the puppies spill to the floor in a flurry of short fat legs and wiggly butts, “’m sorry, Mrick.” Maya kneels down to gather the AWOL puppies in her slender arms, glaring daggers at the other Siren all the while. She doesn’t look angry, she just looks… disappointed.

Timothy can feel hot liquid running down his face, and judging by the stinging in his eyes, it’s not just blood. Athena rubs gentle, soothing circles on his back so that he’ll feel a little better (and so that she won’t just go and downright rip Lilith’s pretty little head off). “You need to work on your aggression.” she settles on saying instead. Mordecai bends down to offer a handkerchief to the woman, who tilts Timothy’s head back to hold it against his nose. “Ah’m okeh,” he says quietly.

“You got a broken nose.” Athena states. “Eez fine,” Timothy replies, “’app’n’d t’ me before… Ah c’n ‘andle it.” Athena rolls her eyes but continues to hold him close; he can’t help but lean into the touch, it’s been a while since they met up and he really missed her. “Ah ’ate mah face anyways.” Athena’s hand stills on his back as people around them fall silent and still as statues. Lilith fidgets with regret gracing her soft features but says nothing, her eyes locked in a glare with Athena’s.

“This attitude’s what’s making people hate you, you know that?” Athena growls again, her voice low and threatening this time.

“I-“ Lilith starts, but Athena interrupts with a harsh “Don’t!” Timothy tunes them out for the sake of focusing on not passing out. Then there’s a soft thud on the floor near him that makes him open his eyes (when did he close them anyway?), he turns his head slightly to see Brick’s friend’s little bird advancing towards him on wobbly, long legs like a tired old man. If anything, it looks curious, so Timothy holds out a hand with a dumb smile on his face and surprisingly enough, the bird comes closer. Mordecai takes in a shaky breath, the scene hitting too close to home; his hands balling into fists at his sides without noticing, he tries to tell himself, _That looks nothing like Jack._ Talon seems to be enjoying the other man’s company anyway, the normally bite-happy bloodwing hopping back and forth to chase Timothy’s fingers. Mordecai takes a long swig from the bottle in his hand and leans against the wall, trying to battle trauma like the grown man he is.

“He bites me…” Lilith says mournfully, “And he likes **him**.” She heaves a huge sigh. In the back of his mind, Timothy smiles to himself victoriously; he knows it’s childish, but it definitely makes them get even. Brick looks between them like a proud father, his giant arms filled with excited puppies as he beams.

“Unlike **you** , he’s an amiable person.” Athena quips from the floor next to Timothy. He ends up snorting and wishes he hadn’t done that when the pain comes back in waves. Lilith growls from her place next to the table as Maya deposits the puppies in her arms into Brick’s and moves to kneel next to Timothy. “Children, behave.” she commands like a chiding mother before turning to the ex-doppelgänger, “Let’s fix your nose, alright?”

* * *

It’s late into the Pandoran night when Timothy goes out to stand on the balcony next to a restless Lilith. He puts a good distance between them for both of their sakes before he leans against the parapet; other than Claptrap wheeling around on the street and the occasional drunken banter, the city’s silent, calm. Timothy sighs, taking in a breath of fresh air. Lilith stands unmoving, like those Handsome Jack statues scattered around the planet he so adamantly tried to fell. “I’m sorry.” he says quietly, as if he’s afraid he’ll anger her. Lilith huffs and mirrors his stance, “It’s… it’s not your fault.” She turns to look at him, her amber eyes seemingly dark under the moonlight, “It’s just hard when-“

“When you have the face of a tyrant? An asshole? An abusive bastard?” Timothy raises an eyebrow to Lilith’s gaping mouth, sounding louder and harsher than he hoped to. “Yeah… I know.” He turns to look at Elpis hanging carelessly in the sky like a big purple lamp, “You know, you tend to slash your face when you first try to shave without a mirror- and you don’t really mind that when you despise your mug… then it gets surprisingly easy when you learn not to care.” He’s rambling, he knows. He huffs and forces himself to shut up.

“If it makes you feel better…” Lilith starts off, clearing her throat, “You look too…” she waves her hands, “Ginger… to be Jack…” Timothy perks up at her words, did his hair really start to look like his **actual** hair? “Plus, no offense, but you look like a wild hobo with the hair and the beard.” They look at each other for a moment, unsure about the mixed emotions and awkward words; then suddenly Timothy bursts into laughter, his rich voice booming in the night. It’s not the healthy kind of laughter, he knows, the tears rolling down his cheeks tell him just as much, but he couldn’t care less as he throws his head back and howls with laughter that occasionally comes out as sobs.

Surprisingly enough, Lilith starts to laugh and cry along with him- just like him. She hasn’t let her emotions run free since Roland’s death, and she briefly wonders how long Timothy had been holding himself back. As the staccato of their joined voices slowly die away, they regard each other with renewed perspective. Lilith slowly straightens up and looks at Timothy with a small smile ghosting on her lips, “Thank you.” Timothy tentatively smiles back.

After the Siren’s departure, the ex-doppelgänger lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and grins dumbly to himself. Athena’s **so** not gonna believe what just happened. Well, he’ll tell her when he goes to crash at her lodgings for the night, hopefully catch her and Janey before they fall asleep.

First, though, he needs to get back to the pile of puppies to blow raspberries on their soft little tummies.

**Author's Note:**

> This story was initially titled **puppers**


End file.
